The Shepherd of the Hills Page #3

Well, it's just like you been sayin'

and I been wonderin'.

The heavier the man,

the deeper his boot track.

It just don't make no sense,

love don't.

But there it is.

Well, I guess supper's coolin'

and waitin' at our house.

Bye, Jim.

Bye.

Bye, Sammy.

"I've been sayin',

and he's been wonderin'."

What in thunderation

was he talkin' about?

Somethin' inside you gets to hurtin',

you're breathin' so awful bad,

you wanna yell out loud.

And you know you're walkin'

up a road ain't got no end.

For the sake of my tired soul's

confusion, what are you aimin' at?

He's been talkin' pretty words

fenced around with no meanin'.

'Cause love don't make

no sense, it don't,

not when a man's got on his mind

what Young Matt's sworn to do.

Uh-huh!

Smelled that peppermint candy

all the way up here, didn't ya?

Here, Pete.

Something's wrong.

Something's wrong around here.

What is it?

Everything's as usual, and better.

Set and eat.

What's he tryin' to say?

What you been wantin' most to do,

Matt? What are you gettin' at?

Look.

A hundred dollars, and more to come.

Your waitin's over, Matt.

You sold Moanin' Meadow.

For your sake.

Look! Hatin', hatin'.

You sold it, and you got no right!

She's my sister

same as she's your mother.

Only she has got a right

to be in Moanin' Meadow.

Go on!

But before you do it,

you gotta know this.

It's me runnin' the Mathews, and not

you whose bornin' brung the misery on us.

I know what I am.

Then don't be forgettin'

why us are livin' on the hill,

hidin' from folks' laughin' and talkin'.

Don't no one ask us

to no get-togethers.

They don't want nothin' to do

with no kinfolk of your mother's.

No stranger's gonna trample

on her grave.

You can't rest her easy

by killin' strangers.

Kill him what put

the idiot curse on my son.

Him what killed her, not the one that's

gonna give you the money to do it.

Poison talk.

You witch-woman you.

You... with your sermon of hate.

Castin'a spell onto all of us!

A... drivin' Young Matt to murder.

You fool! You blind-drunk fool!

You're right. You're right.

I sat there sayin' to myself,

"Why don't ya stop him?

'Cause you can't.

"'Cause why? 'Cause you ain't got

the backbone of a fishworm. That's why.

And once more, you're tromped down!"

Ah, I "seed" it...

the night she lay dyin'

over in her cabin... and alone.

Yeah, I told you I was

down to the forks,

but I seed it with my own eyes.

You were full of the devil's sin,

and it was a-stormin'.

And little Pete went out to help,

and you followed him

and drove him out of the cabin.

A lightnin' tree felled him and took

away his senses. You lie! You lie!

And she looked at you afore she

died, didn't she? Didn't she?

No!

Yes!

And anyone that looks at a dyin'

body's face will be the next one to die!

So you put your Satan's sin

and filled Young Matt with it.

Heh! "Counter the curse...

by killing the one that wronged her. "

And all this I knowed

and seed with my own eyes...

and held it inside me.

I done that for you, Mollie,

'cause you're mine.

I gotta ask you to get off of

this place, Mr. Howitt.

But I bought this place.

It ain't for sale.

You'll get your money back.

Look, Matt, this place is mine.

I don't wanna hurt

no kinfolk of Sammy's.

You won't be. I'm not Sammy's cousin.

She just said that to protect me.

Well, then get off of here

and get off quick.

Look, Matt, I bought this place.

And among honest people,

a trade is a trade.

Let me borrow that gun, Matt.

Some folks ain't to be trusted

with a loaded gun.

Remember what I said.

I'll be lookin' to see you gone.

It'd be bad luck to start up

housekeepin' without some salt, bread...

and a sweepin' broom.

Thanks.

It's the right notion, Sammy.

With the way things are

in our mountains now,

it needs more than salt and bread

and a sweepin' broom.

Can't hardly believe it myself.

But it wasn't always that way.

No, they wasn't.

Folks was happy. They sung songs.

They worked.

Now all they do is set around

and try to outsmart the government.

Seems like people nowadays

are stagnatin'...

and filming over like a...

like a pond dryin' up.

Maybe there's a way of goin' ahead

by getting back to where you were.

Maybe if we four begin it... help to

lift the burden... others'll come to help.

You know how I feel about it.

You can count on me.

Well, seein' as how

we're all of one mind,

let me unpack you

from Moanin' Meadow.

That's home, Sammy.

But you folks come and see me.

You can have a fence full of open gates

'round Moanin' Meadow.

You'll never be crowded for company.

Come on, help me.

Andy.

Here, I'll take that.

Why, I almost forgot.

I bought you that.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Must be the Lord marks folks...

to favor a purpose.

One and one is two, and three goes to five.

Dead spirits stay dead and live ones alive.

One and one is two and three goes to five.

Dead spirits stay dead and live ones alive.

Sammy, it's good to see you here.

Come in.

Sit down, Sammy.

I can't sit, and I can't stop shakin'.

I couldn't sleep a wink.

I can't stop the feelin' inside me.

Past and present go together.

I knowed it from the first.

You and Young Matt son and pappy.

Him and your eyes, and you and his.

And the way his mouth laughs

when he don't want it to.

I'm glad you know.

Sit down, Sammy.

Someday, he's gonna look good at you and see

himself lookin' back at him from outta your eyes.

Someday, he's certain bound to know.

Someday, he is certain bound to know.

I'm gonna tell him.

He swore a blood oath

to kill ya when he finds ya.

Listen, Sammy. He's my son.

If dyin' for him would help,

that would be easy.

But I know that if he kills me,

he loses himself... and you.

It would mean just one more

generation of misery.

I know what it means to go through

life empty and alone.

I won't let him do that.

I don't know how

and I don't know when, Sammy,

but I will find a way to tell him.

I must find a way to help him

unswear his blood oath.

Before, it was just some worthless man

that Matt always hated.

Now it's you.

Wash, take this.

I got somebody I wanna see.

That sums up to $4.00, Corky.

Reckon I'll have to ask you

to pass me by this time.

Overstocked.

I'm waitin', Corky.

And waitin'aggravates me.

Can't blame me, Wash.

Ain't nothin' I can do about it

if folks have changed and...

and lost their appetite for thirstin'.

These hills don't change for nobody.

And there's some people around here

that are overdue to learn that.

It's hindsight

changin'old friends for new.

Corky, if you can't sell that to

nobody else, you sold it to yourself.

I reckon I just temporarily

lost my manners.

Yeah.

Been tryin' to figure out

what it was I liked about you.

Come to find out it's the easy style

you unload a full-up wagon.

Hello, Matt.

What are you doin' down here?

Get outta there! He's working for me,

Wash. He's helping me with the sheep.

Workin'?

For you?

You get on up the trail.

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